Rise of the machines: hospitality and the quest to make robots human

Society works when there are plenty of young people to do the
hard graft of growing the economy and providing for the older,
ageing population.

What happens when you turn that on its head? We're about to find
out. Many nations already have fertility rates far below the 2.1
births required to maintain the population - in the United Kingdom
it's 1.9, in the US it's 1.8, in China it's 1.6 and in Germany it's
1.4. With people living longer, the only viable long term solution
to this problem is robotics which can help address the imbalance
between the young and the old by taking over many of the 'menial'
tasks we won't have enough young people to perform.

The news that robots are
taking our jobs is all a bit outdated now, with the use of
robotics predicted to generate over 2 million additional job
positions between 2017 and 2020*.

But what's the real effect of robotics? How will our lives
actually look in the near-term?

Construction

Manual labour is often the most obvious candidate for robot
replacement, and worldwide, the use of robots in the construction
sector over the next four years is predicted to have a compound
annual growth rate of 5.41%, according to the Global Construction
Robots Market 2016-2020 report. Australian company, Fastbrick Robotics, is working on a
commercial version of the Hadrian 105 robot, now called the Hadrian
X, that can lay 1,000 bricks an hour and build a house in just two
days. It says the technology will transform the industry. The
report states the major reason for the increased use of
construction robotics is growing urbanisation and one of the main
challenges is the reluctance of construction companies to adopt the
new technology. Construction robots are mainly used for basic tasks
in building construction and civil engineering projects, including
concreting, building, connecting, attaching, coating, covering,
jointing, positioning, finishing, demolishing, drilling,
tunnelling, earthmoving, scaffolding, inspecting, and repairing
elements.

Manufacturers are reshaping their factories to make room for
collaborative robots - bots which are designed to help existing
employees rather than take their jobs.

Robots ought to make life easier and more enjoyable. In Japan,
they already do and so ingrained is the cult of hard work that falling asleep
on the job is seen as a sign of sterling commitment to the
cause. It's easy to laugh at a culture that pushes its
employees that hard. The low-friction lifestyle that a tech-heavy
society encourages is energising. It's easier to focus your energy
on mentally demanding tasks when you're less worn down by the
everyday noise of human interaction. Ordering from a machine - or
doing your banking through a humanoid robot that can read your
expression - is so much less exhausting than it is with humans. No
wonder the Japanese work 18-hour days without thinking twice. Any
number of their needs and desires are automated, catered for by an
invisible workforce.

In an economy struggling for growth, cost-saving drives
automation and robotics provides a lifeline.

Hospitality

It's cheaper to buy a £10,000 robot than to pay an employee for
a year. And if a restaurant is spending less on its wage bill, it
can lower its prices. A San Francisco company is already working on
a system that will shape hamburgers from freshly ground meat, grill
them to perfection, toast the bun, and add fresh ingredients to
order. Its aim is to sell gourmet burgers at fast-food prices, no
humans required. The savings will be spent on better ingredients.
Bad news for those workers who lose their jobs, no doubt. But those
who stay in employment will benefit from a slicker, more
streamlined economy. Investment in the hospitality sector
allows the industry to do more with less, and with the majority of
future growth predicted to be in the budget and select service
hotel category, it becomes significantly easier when a hotelier
doesn't have to worry about providing optimal conditions for a
growing workforce.

Automatons fitted with artificial intelligence technology could
be a common sight in hotels by as early as 2020, it's been
suggested. The Henn-Na in Japan, hit the headlines last year when
it became the
world's first robot-staffed hotel. And machines could soon be
greeting guests at reception, cleaning rooms and serving food and
drinks at many more hotels. Industry experts have been buoyed by a
Travelzoo global survey that shows the majority of people would
embrace such a change. In fact, many potential travellers believe
automatons could deliver a better customer
service than their human counterparts. The study found nearly 80%
of respondents expected robots to play a big part in their lives
before 2020. And three quarters (75%) believe they'll make their
lives significantly better.

Travelzoo European president Richard Singer said: "Right now is
a very exciting moment in the history of the travel industry -
ground-breaking technology is revolutionising what is possible from
the perspective of customer service, entertainment and
personalisation. Robots and artificial intelligence are making
their debut on the tourism stage, and our research into global
acceptance of robots working in the travel industry shows that
consumer acceptance is generally high for this form of
technology."

Travelzoo's survey
found that almost 60% of Brits prefer robots to look like robots,
devoid of any qualities that made them appear more human. That
compares to a massive 76% of Chinese people who want their androids
to look as life-like as possible. Spain was split 50/50 when asked
the same question. Nevertheless, 61% of UK travellers said they
would be comfortable with robots being used in the industry.

Typically, one of the biggest concerns amongst Brits was the
loss of the famed British wit.

"It was fascinating to see some cultural stereotypes emerge from
the research into global acceptance of robots," Singer said.

"The UK participants feared the famous British sense of humour
would be lost on robots and the French were the least willing to
replace their waiters with robots - even if a human waiter was much
less efficient than a robot."

At the Marriott International Hotel in Ghent, Belgium, customers
are often greeted by the humanoid Mario, who has become a local
celebrity. Starwood has introduced a robotic butler - or "botlr"
while a hotel in Japan has Toshiba's 'communication android'
Chihira Aico welcoming guests.

Professor Stephen Page of Bournemouth University, says: "Robots
represent a major innovation to the tourism sector, and their
potential impact and use offers many new avenues to enhance and
develop the visitor experience of travel and hospitality.
Understanding how consumers will embrace and interact with this new
technology will be critical to their adoption and dissemination in
an industry that is one of the market leaders in the use of
technology."

The story of course does not end there and Bill Gates, founder
of Microsoft, suggested recently that machines that take human jobs
should not escape the taxman, suggesting "governments could pad out
there incomes by either levying heavier charges on profits derived
from automation" or, "directly in some sort of robot tax". Last
month the research arm of McKinsey said 49% of workers' time could
be handled by "currently demonstrated technology".

Their ultimate supremacy over humans is predicted to be reached
in 2035, the point in time when robots will begin to develop at a
faster rate than us mere humans can comprehend. But right now,
robots have reached a point of intelligence where they will soon be
able to assist humans in every kind of industry, in ways previously
unthinkable.

It's going to be fascinating how the government and the
hospitality sector prepares for the rise of automation, and how
hoteliers and guests interpret the word "service" from budget to
six star luxury.